


The Soldier in the Iceberg

by Amy Raine (amyraine)



Series: Evil AtLAverse [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Explicit Language, Gen, Minor Character Death, Mirror Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-03
Updated: 2011-10-03
Packaged: 2017-10-24 06:53:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/260366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amyraine/pseuds/Amy%20Raine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A pirate captain finds the last remnant of an old empire in an iceberg.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Soldier in the Iceberg

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry, reorganizing! I'm thinking of making this part of a series of ficlets set in the same AU, so I isolated it.

“They will use the comet to rebel,” General Gyatso said, as if discussing what to have for breakfast.

The young soldier, Aang, spat over the side of the saddle. “Comet or no, fire does not burn without air.”

“I wouldn't underestimate them,” his mentor replied evenly. “Just in case they do win, we have a back up plan.”

“Yeah?” The boy looked bored. “What's that?”

“This.” Gyatso whacked his pupil upside the head with his staff, and Aang slumped. Calmly, Gyatso pushed him over the side and watched him fall into the ocean below. The dark waves swallowed up the small, lithe body and continued to sway as if nothing had happened.

For a moment the general panicked, thinking he had miscalculated. The council would have his head if he fucked this up...

Then a glow rose up from the depths of the water. Even from this height Gyatso could see the vaguely human-shaped speck in the middle. The fabled Avatar State. How interesting. Though he hadn't been there to see it, the last Avatar had nearly decimated the Western Air Fortress while in that state. Just as he had been on the verge of wiping out all the airbenders there, a fateful column had toppled onto him. Word had it that the blow paralyzed him and stopped up the flow of energy through his chakras so that he could no longer enter the Avatar State. His soldiers had spirited him away before he could be killed, however, knowing that he would be reborn to their enemies. If it hadn't been for that fortunate volcano suffocating him with fumes and ash, Roku would be with them still.

Gyatso gauged the position of the stars and made a mental note of the date. Factoring in the underwater current, he should be able to find the boy once the battle was over. Then Aang could train in the other three bending disciplines and unleash retaliatory wrath upon those Fire Nation savages. Prisoners made fine teachers when offered a chance at better accomodations or more privileges. Even firebenders. In the meantime, the Avatar was safe where no one would think to look for him.

Over the horizon, dark clouds gathered. A nasty storm was coming. Gyatso prodded his armored bison around and flew back to the Southern Fortress.

*

Captain Hakoda sat in his quarters chewing a piece of blubbered seal jerky when the door flew open.

“Mutiny, eh?” he asked casually, without turning around. “Figured it'd be you. Your brother's too much his mother. Too soft.”

“Since you knew it was coming,” Katara replied, one hand on her hip, “why don't you just take the canoe and make for land? It doesn't have to be a bloody takeover.”

Hakoda swallowed the piece of jerky, looked over his shoulder and winked at his daughter. “Now, Katara, you know me better than that.”

Katara's next words were actually a little sad. “Yeah, I do.”

Her father jumped up and readied his club, but Katara was faster. With a wave of her hand the water flew from her pouch and encircled Hakoda's face, reaching into his nostrils and mouth. The captain gagged, flailed, dropped to his knees. She held the globe of water still until those blue eyes, the same as her own, clouded over.

“You didn't know me, though,” she murmured as his body crumpled to the floor. “You didn't know just how strong I had become.”

Outside the sailors gathered, dressed in their signature blue and black. “Is it done?” Sokka asked her.

She gave a curt nod, and ordered, “Give him a proper burial.” Katara didn't hate her father, after all. It was just the way of things.

*

Two days into Katara's leadership, a loud crack made her storm out of her quarters, swearing enough to make even her seasoned men cringe.

“Iceberg, Captain,” her second mate, Bato, announced.

“No shit. I can see that.” The thing was almost as high as the main mast, and that was just the part sticking out of the water. “Seven hells! Eight year old girls could dodge ice better than this!”

“Came up out of nowhere,” Sokka asserted stubbornly.

She shot him an icy look, then pushed her men aside to inspect the damage. The front hull had a nasty jagged hole, but it was above the water line. Still, one bad storm and the ship would be so much driftwood. Katara glared at the large iceberg that floated serenely by, splinters still clinging to the jut of ice responsible, and did a double take. “Drop anchor.”

“Wha..?” sputtered her brother behind her.

“Are you deaf? I want a closer look. Drop the anchor.” Without waiting for the order to be carried out, Katara strode to the rail and vaulted over it. At her summons a wave rose up to catch her, carrying her over to the ice. Ignoring the cold, she bent chunks away, trying to get nearer that silhouetted figure in the center.

Suddenly a bright flash of light blinded her, nearly causing her to fall into the frigid water. When she could see again, she peered into the crater. A person lay inside, but whether male or female, child or really short adult, she couldn't tell through the thick armor and the orange and yellow under tunic...

Orange and yellow?

Then the figure moaned. Gray eyes blinked through the eye slits of the helmet, and the boy—it was certainly a boy, and a young one at that, said in a voice rusty with disuse. “Come here. I want to tell you something.”

Katara's damned curiosity had her leaning over the boy before she could stop herself. His arm shot up, surprisingly strong fingers tightened around her throat, and he growled, “Who the fuck are you and where the hell is that bastard that calls himself my master?”


End file.
